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Sunday, April 1, 2018

Instant Pot Mac & Cheese

I'm back! Wasn't gone for any particular reason and I was still cooking, just not adding new recipes to the blog. Anyway!

Because I am me, occasionally I just google "mac and
cheese." On my most recent googling, I came upon the photo for this
Instant Pot mac and cheese over at Family Fresh Meals. It looked so
good and creamy, didn't have either of the Devil's Cheeses (American
cheese or Velveeta), and I love my Instant Pot, so it got slapped on the
menu for Easter.

Oh boy, did this mac and
cheese not disappoint! It is simply phenomenal. Silky smooth sauce,
very cheesy, very creamy, great flavor. The spiral noodles hold onto
the sauce perfectly and the garlic powder- something I had never added
to mac and cheese- adds something really nice and subtle. My beloved
husband, who has been staunchly loyal to Creamy Baked Mac & Cheese,
gave it 10/10 and thought it was almost as good as his favorite. Which
he says gets 11/10 because why not?

Make this if you have an Instant Pot and love mac and cheese! I'm also happy to say it reheats decently. Not the best ever and not as creamy, but it does not deconstruct into a puddle of stringy, overcooked cheese and grease.

Quick Note: Please be sure to use fusilli pasta. Different shapes of
pasta have different cooking times and need different amounts of liquid
to cook properly. I have no idea how this would turn out with macaroni
or some other shape of pasta. Also, one pound of fusilli means
literally a pound. 16 ounces by weight, not by volume. I'm adding this
information because a lot of people in the comments over on Family
Fresh Meals experienced some confusion in regards to these two things!

Instant Pot Mac & Cheese

4 C water

1 tsp dried mustard

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

3 Tbsp butter

1 lb fusilli pasta (the larger corkscrew type)

5 oz can evaporated milk

12 oz sharp cheddar, freshly grated

4 oz monterey jack, freshly grated

1 oz parmesan, freshly grated

In
the Instant Pot, stir together water, dried mustard, salt, garlic
powder, and butter. Make sure there are no lumps of dried mustard or
garlic powder. Add pasta, stir, and press down gently with the spoon to
make sure the pasta is as covered with liquid as possible- there should
not be an island of fusilli above the surface of the liquid.

Place
on Instant Pot cover, set to seal, and cook on manual for 4 minutes.
Place a dishcloth over the steam release vent, then do a quick pressure
release. There is a very good chance that starchy water will spray up
out of the steam release vent, so do keep the towel on it!

Since the Instant Pot is done cooking, it will have switched to Keep Warm. Don't turn it off!

When
all the pressure has been released, remove the lid and stir the pasta.
There will still be some liquid in the pot, that's fine- do not drain
it. Add the can of evaporated milk, then stir in half of the cheese
until completely melted. Then add stir in the rest of the cheese and dig in!